Tag Archive for Personal Finance education

Is Your Mouth Getting You in Trouble?

December 3, 2014 Uncategorized No comments

scared dentist

Not because you said the wrong thing, but because you do not take care of your dental hygiene?

Today I went to my dentist for my bi-annual cleaning and check-up. The dental hygienist commented that my teeth are great. She asked if I flossed daily, yes. She then asked if I use an electric toothbrush and I again replied yes. She said my dental care was apparent and I had a pleasant visit with little discomfort while I got my teeth cleaned.

When it comes to dental work, I am a baby. I have only had a few fillings in my life and all were in adulthood. When I got my wisdom teach taken out, I had them knock me out because I could not stand them working in my mouth.

As I was getting my teeth cleaned today I thought back to several years ago when I did not have dental insurance. I could not afford dental insurance for 2-3 years and did not get regular cleanings and check-ups. When I went to the dentist for the first time after the break I found I needed several filling and went through a very uncomfortable year of getting my teeth back into good health.

Taking care of your teeth and visiting the dentist regularly, such as the ones at https://www.colinadental.com/, can save a lot of money and discomfort down the road. Preventative care is much less expensive than treatment needed later due to issues. Also, there are arguments made that poor dental hygiene and heart disease are related.

I decided to do some research on what individuals who cannot afford dental insurance can do to maintain their teeth. The Oregon Dental Association provides resources to the community on free or low-dental care available.

Leave the trouble you have with your mouth left to those times when you have “put your foot in it”.

 

Melody Bell
Executive Director

The History of Personal Finance Education in Oregon

February 24, 2010 financial literacy, Uncategorized No comments

I got a call today from a California Jump$tart board member who was doing a survey of the states to find out each state’s educational requirements in finance education. I was once again reminded of Oregon’s digression in their financial education requirements, while we are seeing other states progressing in this area.

So let’s start with some history. Until 1997 Oregon’s high school students were required to have one semester or ½ credit in personal finance in order to graduate. Since then personal finance has been required in the Oregon Academic Content Standards as a small section under the Economics requirements. Here is a link to the Oregon Academic Content Standards http://www.ode.state.or.us/teachlearn/real/documents/ss.pdf

In 1998 The National Council for Economic Education did a survey of the states to find out what requirements there were around finance education. In 1998 there was only one state that required a course in personal finance be taken. The most recent survey results from 2007 showed that seven schools now required a course. Here is a link to the report http://www.ncee.net/about/survey2007/NCEESurvey2007.pdf

In 2007 the Oregon Legislature realized the lack of financial education and assembled a legislative task force to “study and make recommendations about how to increase and improve civics and financial education in kindergarten through grade 12”. I served on this task force and the final report was produced and presented to the legislature in October 2008. Here is a link to the task force’s page http://www.ode.state.or.us/search/page/?id=1836.

In 2009, as a result of the report Senator Rick Metsger presented a house bill to bring back the ½ credit personal finance graduation requirement which did not make it out of committee.

So where do we go from here? Why is it that Oregon was one of the few states that had it right long ago, but dropped personal finance?